Carlow OHaras Irish Red

Brewed by Carlow
Style: Irish Ale
Carlow, Ireland

(330ml bottle, best by 1/31/06) Clear garnet body topped by a medum beige head that leaves nice lacing. Aroma is moderately sweet, caramel, cookie, some nutty, peat. Taste is medium sweet, caramel, some cookie, tea, nutty. Thin body.

Gravity at Birmingham Beer Fest and labelled as Carlow Molings Red (same abv). Nice ruby ale. Roast nutty flavour. Lighter than a Stout, with some meatl, but very nice. Good balance and length of flavour. Liked this a lot.

Dark tan, no head. Aroma is earthy, dry and grainy. Taste is similar, kind of spicy yet overall pretty mild on the palate. Watery mouthfeel.

Sampled from bottle. Well, I can’t believe I bought this after suffering through the highly average, highly priced Ohara’s Stout. Pours clear mahogany with a creamy light-tan head and intricate lacing. It is an inviting pour. Aroma is faint and one-dimensional: malt (slightly acidic/sour). Flavor is slightly bitter and uninspired. Tastes like black patent was used in lieu of caramelized malts. Quite astringent. Finished dry. No detectable aroma or flavor hops. Medium-light body and moderate carbonation. Not worth $10/sixer. Not close considering Smithwick’s is WAY better and a few bucks cheaper.

Bottle (BB Feb 09). Head is initially small, frothy, off-white to light brown, mostly diminishing. Body is clear dark amber. Aroma is moderately malty (toasted/roasted grain, cereal, husks), lightly hoppy (herbs), with light notes of diacetyl, gum, tea, mint, and scorched earth. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter, slightly husky. Light to medium body, watery texture, lively/fizzy carbonation. Fresher sample, still kind of odd. Diacetyl and cereal-like malt brings it down, but there are some interesting subtleties under there too. Always been on the fence about this one...promising but flawed, and unfortunately the flaws are too strong to look the other way.

Pours a light tan head, good retention and plenty of stringy lace. Clear dark amber brew with an attractive ruby red glow. Nose is light malts, nutty and dry. Body is light, crisp. Light malt flavors, nutty with a touch of caramel. Dry finish.

Draught. The word that best describes this beer is MALTY. Not sweet. Any hops that might have been hiding in this beer have been beaten down by the prominent brown sugar and molasses aromas/flavors. Moderate carbonation. Thin off white head with nice lace. If you like malty beers without hop bitterness or hop flavor this one is for you.

12oz bottle. Dark brown and deep red appearance. Light nose of sweet maraschino cherries and sweet sugary maple. However, it’s empty, bland, simple and a little musty. Very light pasty flavors of cloth, paper and other bland items. Almost undescribable in it’s blandness.